He admires animals for what he considers a more sincere way of living, behaviours based on survival and instinct, which is easier to understand in a more raw way compared to people. Though this doesn’t always apply to his more intelligent animals, this does tend to be his favourite trait. 2/?

Soto, Snoot, Sibel and Rita are what he would consider his actual “familiars” with Soto being a bit more significant to his physical being. All four of them are intelligent and capable of speaking, though they generally dont since they’re perfectly fine communicating with Dustan without it. 3/?